Vicki: Ah-Ha, another person who laughs at the pain of others.
(There is just something about Jimmy's character which makes serious drama slide off him like greasy Teflon. I think it might be his bubbly personality.) You will find much humor here... Although, be warned we are moving out of the tropical island comic interlude eye of my dark story storm. Not everything in Smallville will by green-glowy pieces of mirth.
Per my Lois dumps Dan scene (which I must give an extra
to my Betas for helping me re-work recently), originally was much crueler (Lois spelling out to Dan what happened between her and Jimmy on the island). I toned it down because I thought it was too much for even Lois (and because I liked Dan; he just wasn't right for Lois). Then after hearing all the outpouring of Love for Dan on these boards, I decided to try to tweak it to a happy medium. My Betas agreed that it didn't seem in Lois' character to be THAT graphic and if she did, Dan wouldn't buy it.
I looked over those final two paragraph that you noted and made these changes:
Lois decided that Clark was probably right about erring on the side of caution. It wasn’t her usual form, but this wasn’t her typical case. She wouldn’t want to spook anyone by dropping Clark’s full name too soon, no matter how tempting it was to know if Miss Know-It-All Smallville had heard of him. On the other hand, she hadn’t come half-way across the country to not ask the hard questions. “I’m looking for a friend of mine who went missing; someone named…” She pressed her lips together and then exhaled. “Kent,” Lois finally spit out.
Maisie gave her an apologetic smile. “Sorry, hon. I don’t know any Kent in Smallville. Let me go call The Farm and see if they’ve got room for you.” She knocked on the table, despite it being Formica instead of wood, and took a few steps back towards the kitchen before stopping. The waitress turned back to Lois and asked, “You don’t mean Martha and Jonathan Kent?” Then she waved that idea out of the air. “Nah, the Kents aren't missing. I’m betting you mean someone with the first name Kent, right?” She shrugged and continued on to the diner’s kitchen.
Hope that makes it more clear why Maisie didn't think of M&J at first.
